November 2009 Blog Posts (8)

After reading numerous triplogs about Switzerland on the Untours website, I decided that we should make it our destination for 2009. Since many others have written triplogs on Switzerland, it is difficult to come up with new adventures and places to describe but here is my report.

September 23
Upon arrival at the Florence train station we were met by Mary Jane Poole and Marco, our driver. Mary Jane rode with us to our apartment, took us in and waited while Gabriella, the apartment representative, showed us around. After Gabriella left, we realized there was no phone in the apartment, an important item for us. We decided to use the Untours cell phone and a phone card from a Tobacco shop easily located everywhere in Italy by a large “ T”… Continue

September 16
After leaving Paris for our second Untour week, we arrived in Rome having flown Alitalia (a very pleasant experience). We were met at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport by our driver holding a sign with our name on it. He was very quiet on our drive into the city, just pointing out one or two things to us. When we reached our apartment at Via dei Santissimi Quattro we were greeted by Marilina and her helper. They educated us on the apartment and… Continue

On September 8, 2009, at 4:30 p.m. we left the Orlando airport, arrived in Atlanta, then left Atlanta at 8:40 p.m. arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport at 11:30 a.m. We were met at arrivals by our Untours reps., Joanna and Jane. We were the first to arrive, but everyone came shortly after. We met three couples, Elaine and Harvey; Michelle and Rod; and Barb and Pat. We all rode together to our respective apartments.

We heard some excellent musical performances last month by just going to the Julliard School boxoffice and checking out student recital times. Presentations were free...and the Julliard people aren't just any old music students.

Earlier this year I was saddened to learn that Untours would not be having a Venice Untour this year. I had been planning another visit for October 2010.
But I've been know to make lemonade out of lemons so, the trip I was planning to meet up with friends for a week in Rome turned to five nights in Venice to meet some friends and five nights in Rome with some of the same friends and some new ones.
Hopefully Untours will bring back Venice but in the mean time I've planned my own little… Continue

There's more to watch out for in Paris than you think. Our apartment was located on rue Marie Stuart just off of pedestrian-only rue Montorgueil. When we arrived in Paris, our car stopped by some pillars blocking our way. Our driver had to speak with someone via an intercom box on the curb.

After a few seconds of waiting, the pillars magically disappeared into the ground. We were soon on our way. Once our vehicle passed over the… Continue

The perfect way to celebrate my 70th birthday with friends and family was the Greece Untour in Nafplio. There were 14 women friends and family who spent the first 2 weeks on October, 2009 in this wonderful town. We had four apartments and four cars and spent about half the days taking day trips and the rest of the days in and around Nafplio. It only took a few days for us to feel completely at home. We all had our favorite restaurants, bakeries and shops and it was always fun to be recognized… Continue